U.S. economy growth is on the right track

Itís no surprise polls show more people trust Barack Obama over Mitt Romney on the economy. Under Obama, unemployment has dropped over 23 percent since its high a few months after he took office when he passed the stimulus bill and added 5 million jobs over the past 31 months of private sector job growth. The past couple of months have seen a collection of government and private data pointing to what is a brightening economy. Despite predictions on Fox News to the contrary, inflation remains low. Homebuilder confidence is at its highest level in six years and retail shoppers are spending more.

Retail sales jumped last month, producing the best two months of sales in two years, according to the Commerce Department. In September, retailers saw gains in almost every major category. Auto sales increased. Building materials and garden supplies, furniture and clothing sales all gained. More jobs and lower unemployment have consumers feeling optimistic. The University of Michiganís survey of consumer sentiment is at the highest level since September 2007 ó three months before the start of the recession. FedEx is projecting a 13 percent increase in shipments from last year.

U.S. auto companies reported sales rose 13 percent in September from a year earlier. Analysts think sales could hit 14.3 million, up from 12.8 million last year. If Romney had had his way, that number would more likely be zero, and there would be over a million Americans out of work as a result.

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Home sales are up 11 percent from last year, which has lifted home prices. When home prices rise, Americans tend to feel wealthier and spend more. Builders started construction at the fastest pace in more than four years. Economists expect home sales will continue to rebound in October, noting mortgage applications have picked up after falling in August. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index rose this month to the highest level in more than six years.

Through last Friday, before this recent volatility, since Obamaís inauguration the Dow Jones industrial average has gained 67.9 percent. Thatís an extremely strong performance ó the fifth best for an equivalent period among all American presidents since 1900, with FDR and Bill Clinton leading the list. But thatís not entirely a surprise. Since 1900, it has returned 7.1 percent annually when Democrats have occupied the White House, and only 3 percent under Republicans.

Romneyís agenda ignores jobs, relying on high-end tax cuts to help the recovery. A recent analysis by the International Monetary Fund found that budget cutbacks are damaging to economies recovering from recession, and that countries that have ruthlessly cut their budgets have seen their overall debt loads increase as a share of the economy. That has been the case in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Britain. Heck, you only need to look at the failures in New Jersey to see it. Since implementing Chris Christieís austerity programs, his state has gone from 35th to 48th comparing states with the lowest unemployment.

By now we know that the Tax Policy Center, led by a former Bush administration economist, has shown that Romneyís plan would benefit the wealthy and cause middle class tax increases. Interesting though, as corporate profits skyrocket and the stock market grows, hiring grows at too slow a rate. So tell me how and why the corporate elite are going to bother to create more jobs with more cuts to the current low capital gains and income tax rates on billionaires, when they arenít already?

And explain why 22 million jobs were created in the 1990s and there was a budget surplus when the tax rate on the highest earners was a few points higher, as Obama is proposing? Those rates didnít slow down the Internet boom and neither would they slow down the burgeoning growth of the U.S. economy since the low point shortly after Obama took office.